LGBT Oral History: Louie Marven

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Louie Marven moved to central Pennsylvania from his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York to attend Messiah College in 2003 and has lived in the Harrisburg area ever since. The school’s conservative values and prohibition of “homosexual behavior” made Louie’s time there complicated, and it wasn’t until after he graduated that he came out. He then began working for the LGBT Center, taking on the role of Youth Director and Administrator when the Center merged with Common Roads, and then accepting the position of Executive Director in 2012. In this interview, Louie discusses his experience of being gay at an evangelical Christian college, recalling experiences both as a student and as an alumnus that have caused him to think critically about the specific issues of LGBT inclusion that arise from the environment of the school. He also talks about the issues that he finds most pressing for the LGBT community at the moment, what being out means in terms of his life today, and his hopes for the community’s future.